A Veteran’s Service in Panama Isn’t Covered by the VA. There Are Hundreds Like him

Steven Price grew up in Panama and enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1981. For his first base, he “signed up to go back home,” volunteering for duty at the Panama Canal Zone, where more than 10,000 soldiers were stationed in the 1980s.  He spent three and a half years in Panama, first as a radio operator and then as a linguist, deploying to Honduras and El Salvador. He was, he remembers, constantly amid toxic pesticides. To control insects, it the poisons were mixed with diesel to be sprayed from trucks. Duty in Panama also meant exposure to the remnants of herbicides, including Agent Orange, that had been routed through the bases in the 1950s, ’60s and ’70s on its way to combat in Vietnam.  Price left the Army in 1987.

Steven Price in Panama in the early 1980s, when tens of thousands of soldiers and other U.S. troops were stationed in the Panama Canal Zone.

Now 66, Price is a 100% disabled veteran who was diagnosed with Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia and Ischemic Heart Disease. In recent decades, Price and hundreds of other veterans of Panama discovered troubling information they were not privy to during their service, but became relevant as they were diagnosed with a range of health issues.  Agent Orange and similar chemicals that he worked around in Panama have long-understood health impacts. Along with those exposures, Price believes the pesticides used in the country may also be to blame for health issues.

Steven Price during a deployment to Puerto Lempira, Honduras in 1983, during his time stationed in Panama

But the Department of Veterans Affairs does not consider duty like Price’s in Panama as “presumptive” exposure to Agent Orange and other herbicides that would unlock benefits. The VA follows a Department of Defense list of duty locations for “presumptive” status, a list that does not currently include Panama. In a bipartisan letter sent to then-Veterans Affairs Secretary Denis McDonough in February 2024, 19 members of Congress wrote that public documents corroborate the presence of Agent Orange in Panama and nearly 400 veterans have developed cancer, heart disease, and other health issues “consistent with herbicide exposure,” but have been denied disability compensation. 

Panama Vets Left Out of Toxic Exposure Coverage

Under the 2022 Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics Act, PACT Act, veterans can receive disability compensation for specific health issues linked to toxic exposures from their service — i.e., Iraq and Afghanistan burn pits, and Agent Orange in Vietnam. Those locations form a list of duty stations where vets are presumed to have been exposed just by being there. But Panama is not on the list.  “We have not just a plethora, but an overwhelming amount of evidence that shows that Agent Orange and DDT and a bunch of other chemicals were shipped into Panama,” Price said.  

Advocates have developed a robust campaign on toxic exposures in Panama. A civilian researcher catalogued the relevant science, and a Navy veteran launched a search platform of public documents to support VA claims. In 2017, a military spouse catalogued Agent Orange shipments in her book: “The Travels of Orange: and Other Toxins.”   A 2018 Government Accountability Office report found “inaccurate” and “incomplete” federal records for shipping, storage, and testing documents related to Agent Orange and similar chemicals.

Pesticide Mixed with Diesel 

In addition to Agent Orange, Price advocates for expanding Panama-related toxins. A 1954 article from The Panama Canal Review notes that inside the canal, DDT mixed with diesel fuel was sprayed to combat mosquitoes. Those fogging operations “released benzene- and dioxin-bearing particulates equivalent in toxicity to other exposures already covered by the PACT Act of 2022,” veteran groups wrote in a call-to-action announcement, referring to burn pits.